Rants & Reviews

17 August 2008

OLYMPICS (4): Highlighting “Other” Events

Sports(wo)menshipWhy are the male beach volleyball partnerships so fraught with ugliness? One team of brothers, we are told, didn’t speak to each other on or off the sand. We’re shown a clip of one brother ignoring an offered hand-shake from the other. This week I saw a match between the Swiss and Americans and they were the most miserable bad-tempered bunch. What’s the point?

In contrast, there’s Dara Torres. She was about to do her preliminary swim in the 50m when she unexpectedly walked down the length of the pool and began talking to the head judge, before dipping down to splash a few handfuls of pool water on her arms. The TV commentators could not understand what was going down. Is there a problem with her splashing herself? they wondered. Torres walked back to her station and spoke to the other racers. The commentators were astounded. Usually Torres is in her pre-race zone. Such an interruption is unheard of. It turns out that the swimsuit of the racer next to her had ripped. Torres, in her generosity and maturity, told her to run and change while she, Torres, made it right with the judges. She also told all the women – Let’s just wait until the Swedish swimmer gets back. Such solidarity and respect – it’s a whole different level of sportswomanship.

100 meterThe quarterfinals of the men’s 100 meter dash were well-presented with good explanations and interesting narratives. From Dix’s areo-dynamic sleeves to the studious eyeglasses of Hu Kai to Powell’s startling speed. In the end, Usian Bolt’s (age 21) win was particularly interesting because once he clinched the gold – about 20 meters from the end – he stopped concentrating and started celebrating, waving his arms around (and soon his gold spike shoes too). When asked why he didn’t try to finish the race for an even faster record break (the record is his, anyway), he said it was all about the gold.

Badminton I’m not a regular, but watching the gold medal victory of China’s Lin Dan was a trip. The Chinese fans have the same level of passion as the most compulsive of the world’s soccer or basketball or baseball fans. He was nearly overwhelmed by emotion as he clinched it, and the fans went nuts. Luckily, for a change, we were able to actually see the audience reaction. Dan saluted his fans in all directions, threw his racket up to applauding supporters and then took off his shoes and threw those up into the stands, too, before running into the ecstatic crowd for a group hug. Cool.

Strip TeaseMy friend D believes (only slightly tongue-in-cheek) that NBC is making its broadcast decisions based on the least clothes worn (by women). Whether it’s swimming or the endless, endless beach volleyball, it’s all about the stripped down look. Considering that the beach volleyball men wear t-shirts and long roomy shorts, I must ask once again why the women are competing in their underwear. Sports like judo, white water racing, archery, equestrian and fencing – in which women are in full garb – not so much.

Phelps continuedOnce Michael Phelps won his seventh gold medal, NBC brought on Mark Spitz – who apparently hadn’t even been invited to the Olympics for some arcane reason and who was being presented by some of the media as petulant about that –for a split-screen joint interview with Michael Phelps. Spitz has held the 7-gold record for 36 years (since Munich) and was wonderfully gracious in praising Phelps. But Phelps, on the other hand, refused to return the favor. He would not single out Spitz, despite the fact that a lot of the attention Phelps is getting is because of matching (and now breaking) Spitz’s gold medal record. The interviewer would say, So how do you react to such enthusiastic compliments from history’s swimming legend? And Phelps would respond with something bland like, I honor all the many greats who came before me. He simply would not play nice. I don’t know if there’s a back story, but for me it seemed sour and parsimonious on Phelps’ part.

With all the talk about quantity, how quickly we forget. Why haven’t we heard about the Russian gymnast Larissa Latynina. In her first Olympics in 1956, according to Wikipedia, she won four golds (including the all-around), one silver and one bronze. She went on to achieve a lifetime of 18 Olympic medals. Her last competitive Olympics was 1964. Amazingly, she medaled in every Olympic event she ever entered, except for coming in 4th in the 1956 balance beam. I’d say she was worthy of mention, wouldn’t you?

At the 1958 World Championships, Larissa Latynina won 5 gold (out of 6) and one silver while pregnant. Click here to see some silent black&white film of her achievement.

Women’s MarathonI had friends over to watch the marathon and the swimming finals. Constantina Tomescu (Romania) took an early lead and just kept going and going without a falter. Tomescu at 38 is the oldest marathon winner in Olympic history. The last oldest woman was 30. What’s going on? Older women athletes have been performing brilliantly in Beijing.

The marathon is one crazy-assed sport, an intense combination of strategy and endurance. It’s a gas to watch (especially the last miles), but has never appealed to me as a participant. It’s like swimming –training is a solitary, non-verbal endeavor. With swimming, not only can’t you speak – you can’t hear, see or smell. I personally like my sports loud, interactive and social.

Perhaps one of the most stunning moments of camerawork was a close-up of the thighs of several of the women runners, revealing the intricate choreography of the muscles and tendons, contracting and relaxing, as they ran. We were so mesmerized and amazed that we didn’t even finish the chocolate on the table.

I told my friends this marathon story. I had a martial arts colleague L who practiced a rooted, heavy Japanese style. L was a stocky, thick muscular guy until he decided to switch to marathon running. The change in his body shape, once he lost all his subcutaneous fat, was mind-blowing. As much as he practiced and as good as he became, he could never compete. Why? No matter how he varied his eating habits, he always had to take a crap in the middle of his run. That was ok on his farm, but really wouldn’t have worked well on the streets of Beijing.

Water PoloI can see that this is a very demanding sport. The swimmers can’t touch the bottom or sides of the pool and they end up swimming something like five kilometers in a game. But I’ll be damned if I can follow the games, what with bobbing heads sheathed in those anonymous rubber caps, with unidentifiable arms shooting into the air to try for the net and all that splashing. I apologize for my ignorance.

Women’s Tennis DoublesI just love those Williams sisters, whose entrance to professional tennis rescued women’s tennis from the doldrums – despite unforgivable resistance from tennis institutions, players and media - after it lost Martina. While neither woman took a medal in the individuals (Russians won all three!), they were so joyful over the doubles gold that you would never know what long-time champions they’ve been. Their magic is how they keep it fresh.

TrampolineAt last we got to see a meager slice of an early round of the women’s and men’s trampoline. (Only the individual events are included in the Olympics, unfortunately.) I find it so very exhilarating. The judging criteria are easy to understand: go very high throughout (“big air”), perform ten series of features (double salto reverse spread, the rudolph, etc), and stay within the center box of the apparatus. It’s like doing those wonderful high dive combinations, but ten times without pause. If only they had an over-60 division, I’d sign up.

Why isn’t this sport, which is such a vastly visual thrill, getting more play? Oh, right, the Americans aren’t among the front-runners. I couldn’t yet find any video clips from the Beijing Olympic trampoline, but here’s one from the women’s finals at the 2007 World Championship, in case you want to see the sport that makes me go all gushy.

Comments

Sue, loved your Olympics blog today. Very creatively written. Great idea to have a party with chocolates, of course. I very much appreciated the trampoline video. I had NO IDEA how exciting the trampoline could be! The NY Times had been very unkind to Mark Spitz calling him aloof and a loner. You're right that Phelps should've been more gracious esp. since he's such a big winner & universally popular. Yes, the personalities behind the events are as fascinating as the events themselves. Look forward to more insightful comments.

Sue - You have qualified for a Gold Medal. Great observations about the Olympics and the broadcasting. If NBC read your posts they could have considerably improved their broadcasts! However, I do have to deduct points from your total score. The women's marathon was interesting but I did not need 1 hour and 45 minutes of coverage.

Great videos from the Beijing olympics trampoline. They are really so cool. I like the 4 or isn't 5 turns from the Russia's girls ? it's so amazing but the Canada's girls are at the 1st top. I like your post. They are all deserving to win. They are so good. Keep posting !